Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1887-02-16
On cap LlvINGl
Scheme to REQUIRE Food From Dirt
ana Water.


ana Water.
4 writer In the Washington Post
gives an account of q recent Interview
Of . most remarkable character with
Edison, the inventor. In this inter.
view Edison is made to describe a new
machine which he calls the nutrica-
tor. The machine, the writer saws.
has accomplished the problem of com
bining the natural elements 80 as to
manufacture wholesome food. Edison
Is made to say in this interview: 'In
ten years my machine will be used to
provide the tables of the civilized
world. Meat will he NO longer killed
and vegetables no longer grown, ex-
cept by savages, for my methods will
be 90 much cheaper" Mr.. Edison
then exhibited samples of food which
he said he had made from dirt in his
cellar and from water taken from the
water pipes in the house. The writer
says:
He let me down pair OF stairs into
o light basement room, where a
swarthy looking man was busy about
big machine, an iron vessel, holding
about barrel, attached to something
that looked like hydraulic ram. The
shelves were lined with chemicals
There was a small battery In the cor
ner from which one wire went To the
vat. A kerosene lamp burned under
a sort of retort. That and four crooked
pipes with handles were all that was
visible.
''How is 1t nowp' said Edison.
"About 49," replied the man. That
was all We returned TO the room
above. 81 shall simplify that ma.
chine one-half," he remarked. "Yet
with that l can turn out at least
five tons Of food of various kinds
every day. I have already made
eighteen kinds OF food. will tell you
something If you will not say word
till ! say go ahead All food comes,
Of course, primarily, from the earth.
The plants and fruits we eat come
from the moist ground, and the ami
mails we eat live on the plants, or on
other animals which the plants have
kept alive. So all food comes from the
elements stored in earth, air and water.
You eat a grain OF wheat, for instance.
The wheat is mainly composed of a
few simple gases and salts that last
year were lying dormant in the earth.
the air and the water.
at occurred to me that this process
might be FASTENED; that instead of
waiting a year for nature TO collect
those elements into an organic seed l
could collect them In an hour or per-
haps few minutes. and arrive at the
same result by combining them or
ganically. THIS have done. first
find out what particular kind of food
Is made of. There are sixty-fiye sim.
pie clements in nature: that il. sub.
stances which we call sim ole elements.
because we have not vet succeeded in
proving them to be compound. am
afraid your readers will not generally
understand what l am going to say.
If you use 1t be careful to take it down
verbatim.
"There are sixty-five elements. Car.
bon is the king OF these. II is the
great organizer. 1t is never absent
from any plant or animal organism.
1t is at the base of almost everything
1t is the key to my discovery, tor il
possesses the peculiar capacity 10 form
molecules from its own atoms. The
diamond Is pure carbon; so are graph
lite and charcoal nearly pure carbon,
though they are SO different. Sugar
and starch belong to the hydrocarbons,
and / cannot understand why their
manufacture out of earth and water
hasn't been hit on before. | form all
my meat compounds by exposing three
elements in a red hot state to nitrogen
gas, though l use different fayors,
which get from the earth too. 1
have had to bring from Westminster
County some argillaceous soil not
found here.
81 can make wine and have made
IL. with New JERSEY earth and water
that M man can tell from Chateau
Ynuem 7 And that those elements
combine at the Lowest temnerature tbat
lave the same OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES 10 the
came Londa hv u h;ch tbev mite W ;,h
one another mr. with comnonnd mole
cules This great ;nvenfion has not
hcen .hit IN, before because analytic
cbem;strv has rece ived too mnch of,
ten,ion 10 the exclusion If svnthet;c
chem;s,rv. men have been more do
Voted ~ Ia.rn;na than m Jn;ng 10
no;s;or ,yas ;,,at Nm Tho edSo ~; u I'D
missed a. Jnn,nhrev law I;a,,;a
q nd 10 -oda - wera ali IN sigh; ~ ,on5
suddenly tTrned aside Thev snc.